TEAM EFFORT:

The secret to a successful team is all down to having the right support. The perfect person is one who can be incredibly anal, is good at managing people and can count. This person is the lynch pin to the whole operation.

Put them in charge and surrender to their every request and you should find the effort of getting team mates out of bed at 2 am and making sure there is someone to swap with you at changeover goes like a dream.

Before the start of the race think about your strategy, sort out a rider rotation and write it down. Now think about what & how long it takes to get ready for a lap, taking into account: dressing, eating, peeing, warming up (very important), getting to the starting line, getting lights ready, etc.......... Make sure you have time for all these things. With all the

above in place, then you the riders can concentrate on your one and only task  - riding a lap as fast as possible.

Oh and don’t forget to choose straws, as to who gets the fun job of starting the race, that run is a killer!

Preparation for each lap should begin about 15 mins before you’re due to hand over. Aim to get a reasonable warm up. Your support person should have it timed to perfection so you’re not hanging around the transition area for too long.

Make sure you don’t miss a transition, there is nothing worse for team moral when a rider comes in to find no one to replace him and could lose you valuable placings. Transitions should last seconds for teams, no longer.

Have a support person at the transition to take extra clothes, water bottles, etc. from the departing rider. That support person can then tend to the incoming rider - keeping him warm, feeding him (have a bottle of recovery drink to hand him immediately), get him back to the camp. After each lap, don't forget to cool down, try to do some stretching, eat, stay warm, and prepare for your next lap.

When you are out on your lap concentrate on being smooth while you are riding. No one climb or flat or sprint will win this race, each person must be fast, smooth and consistent. If your opponents pull ahead do not panic. They are going to too fast and will blow up. It's like a boxing match, you will take a punch, but that won't stop you. You throw a punch back, you wear them down, and at the end you knock them out.

Keep a fast, but maintainable pace throughout.... but in the end, leave everything you have on the course.

EAT TO COMPETE:

Don’t forget the importance of food. You will burn about 600 to 800 calories per hour. Don't worry about eating while you are riding. Instead, eat after each lap. Drink energy drink or plain water during your laps. Drink a protein based recovery drink immediately after your lap and then eat something solid. Make sure you put the 600-800 calories that you're burning each hour back in, mostly as carbs (simple carbs and sugar are fine, so don’t forget the jaffa cakes and the jelly babies).  Also plan to have some "real food" at some point. You will be burning these calories anyway and the sooner the fuel is into your muscles the better. 

Use as little energy as possible between laps. You have kinetic energy, which is what you use when you are moving about, so make sure you’re resting storing up your potential energy ready to unleash it on your next lap.

NIGHT RIDER:

See if you can source a form of heating from somewhere to take with you to your camp. Maybe a patio heater or something. Regardless of the time of year, it tends to cool down quite a bit after dark. Wrap up in a few blankets in between laps. Bring lots of riding clothes so you have dry stuff for each lap. In between laps, wear something warm, comfortable and easy to change in and out of. If you can take out two lights for each night lap. You never know when one will fail. You will have to recharge your lights at sometime during the race, make sure your support person knows the plan. There will be charging facilities on site 24/7 just get organised to take advantage of them.

PLAN FOR WORLD DOMINATION:

Planning is essentially the key to doing well at Mayhem (or even just getting through). The more prepared you are the less stress your team will feel during the early hours of the morning when feelings and tempers might be a bit frayed.

As we said before your support person/team is incredibly important to your team, you will wear them/him/her ragged. They will be working harder and longer than any of the team, before during and after the race.

At the end of it all, you will owe your support team in a HUGE way. Make sure you repay them, and then some. You may want their help again some day….

NEED HELP?

Then just have a look at our Mountain Mayhem Training Weekends. Just click HERE